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Mahaffey said she searched for Missy, even filed a report at a local animal shelter. Her then-1-year-old daughter, Kaylee, had quickly fallen in love with the dog, and Mahaffey needed the animal herself to help with her developmental disabilities. But the dog never turned up.

Until last week, that is.

The dog was picked up as a stray on Sept. 14 by Jefferson County Animal Control officials in Missouri, some 860 miles away from Mahaffey’s yard. Missy was then sent to a local groomer, who discovered an identification chip inside the dog. A friend of the groomer, Brandi Cross, of House Springs, Mo., then managed to track down Mahaffey in Colorado.